The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1887-07-29

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there has been no death, and will restore
your child TO life." So the mother went
out, and she went from house to house,
and from home to home, looking for .
place where there had been no sorrow and
where there had been no death, but she
found none. She went buck to the god
Veda and said: my mission is failure;
you see / haven't brought the mustard
seed; can't find place where there has
been no sorrow and no DEATH" "Oh, !"
says the god Veda, understand your sor-
rows are no worse than the sorrows Of
others; we all have our griefs and all
have our heartbreaks:"
Laugh, and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and You weep alone;
For the sad old earth must borrow It's mirth,
But has trouble enough of its own.
We hear great deal of discussion now
all over the land about why people do
not go to church. Some say it is because
Christianity is dying out, and because
people do not believe in the truth Of
Gods word, and all that. They are false
reasons. The reason is because our SER
mons and exhortations are not interest
ing, and practical, and helpful. Some
one might as well tell the whole truth on
this subject, and SO will tell it. The
religious discourse Of the future, the
Gospel sermon to come forth and shake
the nations and lift the people out of
darkness, will be popular sermon, just
for the simple reason that it will meet
the woes and the wants and the 'anxieties
of the people.
There are in all our denominations
ecclesiastical mummies sitting around to
frown upon the fresh young pulpits of
America, to try to awe them down, to
cry out, "Tut! tut! tut! Sensational"
They stand today preaching in churches
that hold thousand people, and there
are a hundred persons present, and if
they cannot have the world saved in their
way it seems as if they do not want it
saved at all.
do not know but the old way Of max
ing ministers Of the Gospel is better-a
collegiate education and an apprentice
ship under the care and home attention
of some earnest, aged Christian minister,
the young man getting the patriarch's
spirit and assisting him in his religious
service. Young lawyers study with old
lawyers, young physicians with old
physicians, and I believe it would be q
great help if every young man studying
for the Gospel ministry could put himself
in the home. and heart, and sympathy,
and under the benediction and perpetual
presence Of Christian minister.
But remark again, the religious dis
course of the future will be an awakening
sermon. From altar rail to the front
doorstep under that sermon an audience
will get up and start for heaven. There
viii De in it many staccsst.2 passage. It
will not be lullaby; it will be battle
charge. Men will drop their sins, for
they will feel the hot breath of pursuing
retribution on the back of their necks.
It will be sympathetic with all the phys
ical distresses as well as the spiritual dis
tresses of the world. Christ not only
preached but he healed paralysis, and he
healed epilepsy, and he healed the dumb
and the blind and ten lepers.
That religious discourse of the future
will be an everyday sermon, going right
down into every mans life, and it will
teach him how to vote. how to bargain,
how tQ plow, how to do any work hs- ia
called TO, how to WELD trowei and pen
and pencil and yardstick and plane. And
it will teach women how to preside over
their households, and how to educate
their children, and how to initiate
Miriam and Esther and Vashti and Eu-
nice, the mother of Timothy, and Mary,
the mother of Christ; and those women
who on northern and southern battle
fields were mistaken by the wounded for
angels of mercy fresh from the throne Of
God.
Yes, have to tell you the religious
discourse of the future will be re-
ported sermon. If you have any
idea that printing was invented
simply to print secular books, and
stenography and photography were
contrived merely to set forth secular
ideas, you are mistaken. The printing
press is to be the great agency of Gospel
proclamation. It is high time that good
men, instead of denouncing the press,
employ it to scatter forth the Gospel of
Jesus Christ. The vast majority of peo-
pie in our cities do not come to church,
and nothing but the printed sermon can
TedCl tllCul dIlO Gull Vllcu1 W pAIuOu 0LU
life and peace and heaven.
So cannot understand the nervous
ness of some of my brethren of the min
istry. When they see newspaper man
coming in they say: 'Alas! there is re-
porter" Every added reporter is II, 900,
sc, 600, 100000 immortal souls added to
the auditory. The time will come when
all the village, town and city newspapers
will reproduce the Gospel of Jesus Christ,
and sermons preached on the Sabbath will
reverberate all around the world, and
some by type and some by voice all
nations will be evangelical.
The practical bearing of this is upon
those who are engaged in Christian work,
not only upon theological students and
young ministers, but upon all who preach
the Gospel, and all who exhort in meet
ings, and that is all of you if you are
doing your duty. Do you exhort in
prayer meeting? Be short and be spirited. |
Do you teach in Bible class? Though you
have to study every night be interesting.
Do you accost people on the subject Of |
religion in their homes or in public |
places? Study adroitness and use COM |
mon sense. The most graceful and most |
beautiful thing on earth is the religion Of |